legal sanity

No. I’m not taking a continuing ed philosophy class (although that might be fun) and this isn’t an original question.

It’s inspired by a pretty well-known quote from author/motivational speaker Zig Ziglar that first came to my awareness while I was watching a great interview with marketing expert Seth Godin. More recently, it popped into my head as I read Be THAT Lawyer, Carolyn Elefant’s thoughts on creating a niche law practice, and a post from SPU’s Susan Cartier Libel titled: The Big Question: “Should You Create A Niche Practice?” (and Part II). Carolyn and Susan add a lot to a virtual conversation that’s been going on for quite some time.

I’ve participated in the dialogue on niche lawyering through posts like these:

How are you doing? 

The thinking behind lawyer brand identity

Self-expression and business relationships 

Here’s what some other lawyers have to say about niche practice and marketing:

Overcoming The Niche Bitch (Chuck Newton)

Niche thyself: Key to legal blog success (Kevin O’Keefe)

Don’t Dilute Your Niche In a Down Economy (Tom Kane)

Do You Have a Niche and What Are You Doing About It? (Tom Kane, again)

Don’t Be Tempted to Abandon Your Niche (Sara Holtz)

Developing a Niche Practice (Rudy Rivera for the ABA’s GP|Solo)

Got an Itch to Create a Niche? (N. Andrew Rotenstreich for the ABA’s Young Lawyer Division)

And here’s some sage input from a couple of non-lawyers:

How to Dominate Your Niche (Brian Clark)

Make the world smaller (Seth Godin)

I think that many new and seasoned lawyers want to be meaningful specifics instead of wandering generalities. Niche practices can certainly help you meet that goal. If you’re wandering in indecision, you might consider taking this quiz asking Does Your Work Matter to You?

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If my recent posts on personal branding and remarkability in business left you hungry for more, baffled, or somewhere in between, here’s a follow-up that makes the same points in a different way.

In this interview, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh shares this gem when asked what the company would look like stripped of its social Web presence: “I don’t think it would look that different. We’re not really focused on social media tools specifically. We’re focused on forming more personal emotional connections with our employees, our customers, and our vendors.”

Especially in this business climate, it’s well worth pondering what would happen if lawyers and law firms built their brands around the core principle of making personal emotional connections with clients, employees and colleagues. Maybe something like this.

If you’re still wondering how your clients will feel and react if you center your business relationship around them, check out this clip of a Southwest flight attendant addressing passengers (hat tip @chrisbrogan).

As Spike Jones of (one of my favorite blogs), Brains on Fire, observes: “[R]elationships are NOT a commodity. And never will be.”

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With the harsh changes in the economic climate and rising jobless rate, I’m hearing and reading a lot about the importance of personal branding. My introduction to the concept came through management consultant Tom Peters’ 1997 Fast Company article, The Brand Called You. In it, he stated this “simple” and “inescapable” truth: “We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.”

There now are companies and consultants dedicated to helping us identify, establish and protect our personal brands. There are also experts who caution that it’s easy to misconstrue what this kind of branding is all about. As marketing guru Tom Asacker observes: “Being the head marketer of brand you is NOT about being interesting [ ]. It's NOT about cosmetics and ‘promoting a persona.’ It's about being interested in the dreams and desires of others. It's about creating an expectation and delivering on that expectation, such that people will trade their attention or money for it.”

While reasonable minds may differ on what personal branding is, I think most would agree that we are our own brand stewards and can’t delegate that authority to anyone else. Lawyer Shai Littlejohn recognizes this in her insightful article, Self-Marketing Is Key to Being a Top Lawyer. She writes: For those young attorneys who dream of becoming top lawyers, the key is to be three parts lawyer and one part marketing agent. [ ] Decision-makers give top jobs to the attorneys with the strongest brands. These are the brands that demonstrate shared values like reputation for responsiveness, accuracy, discretion, political savvy, family and participation in lofty priorities beyond day-to-day work.”

There are many ways to cultivate our personal brand. One that is gaining and holding enormous attention these days is online social networking. If you want to know more about social networking, like Kevin O’Keefe of LexBlog, I’m a big fan of the video tutorials produced by Common Craft. Here’s one on social networking and another on social media.

I think this information pairs well with Jennifer Laycock’s piece on How Social Media (Didn’t) Change Business. Sharing personal, and very touching, anecdotes about her grandfather’s business ethic as an independent insurance agency owner in her small hometown, she observes: “My grandfather practiced the original form of 'social networking.' Back before everyone started focusing on making a bazillion dollars, people had time to make relationships without worrying about how those relationships might 'advance' their career. [ ] Social Media isn't some amazing new concept that's changing the way we do business. It's simply amazing new technology that's allowing us to return to the way people USED to do business.”

Laycock makes so much sense. We should keep her words in mind as we go about building the genuine relationships that, organically, help us cultivate our personal brands.

Postscript: After writing this post, I saw Kevin O'Keefe's recent commentary on personal branding for lawyers in the age of Google. Citing Seth Godin's post on the subject,  Kevin offers some really concrete and practicable ways for us to establish our personal brands online.

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